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C. diff superbug: “most of us get it and it doesn’t matter”

Clostridium difficile, almost affectionately known as C. diff, is one of the famous ‘hospital superbugs’ along with brethren such as MRSA.

C. diff (Source: Wikipedia)

Previous wisdom held that the spindly, drumstick-shaped bacterium was transmitted around hospitals. This week for BioNews, I cover a study showing that hospitals are linked to fewer than one in five C. diff infections. Most, it may be, come from contact within wider communities, or possibly from animal or food sources.